The Eye Doctor
by Cam Flynn
Summary: One-shot/Drabble/ConanRan. A little tale of how our small hero had to deal with a tiny problem...Ran's made him an appointment with an eye doctor. The only thing on his mind is keeping his cover.


I've been doing a lot of little drabbles these days, it seems. But Conan and Ran are great inspiration for those 'little' moments. Yeah, I love their longer stories, but for me the little moments are the clinchers. This is a longer one, but still a drabble. Shinichi surrenders his dignity for the sake of keeping his cover. :D Enjoy guys.

Oh, I'd like to mention that I am extremely crappy at making up mysteries that aren't total bs, so...yeah. This would be twice as long if I had any mystery-writing skill. But since I don't...

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**The Eye Doctor**

"NO Ran-neechan!" he wailed, flailing in the opposite direction. At this point, he really didn't care that his dignity as a teenager was completely compromised. For the moment, he was an eight year old boy who really hated where he was heading.

"Oh, come on. It's not like you're getting shots at the doctors," she scolded. She shook her head. He took most things better than grown men would. Heck, he'd been shot before and managed to keep a level head. "We're just getting your eyes checked."

"But my eyes are just fine! I promise!" She gave a yank on his arm, vaulting him up into the air so that she could latch onto his shrunken body and tuck the boy under her arm. "Ran-neechan!"

"Your parents haven't taken care of you at all for this past year. I swear, what kind of parents just run off and leave their kid with total strangers? At the very least I'm going to make sure you keep up on your health. Doctor, dentist, and _eyes_. If you don't keep up on your glasses prescriptions your eyes will go bad. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

"Ran-neechan, I promise my eyes are fine! I…"

"Quiet down. You're making a scene." He sighed, glaring at the ground as she walked. He was completely defenseless at times like these. No dignity, no strength…For all of Agasa's gadgets, there was no hope for him. "You're such a strange kid."

"Eh?"

"After everything you've been through…"

"I have to keep a brave face!"

"Huh?" Ran glanced over the boy's features.

"I promised Shinichi I'd look after you!"

"Did you now?" She shook her head a little. "And just why do I need looking after?"

"Because…Because you're surrounded by dangerous things and he's worried that something will happen before he comes back…you know, your father seems to get into all sorts of situations. Shooters and bombs and…"

"And Shinichi asked a little kid to look out for me?"

"Well…I've done a good job so far!" She smiled, kissing his forehead. His face turned red in an instant.

"You have. Let's see…what time is it?" Conan checked his watch.

"1:15."

"_1:15?_ We're _that_ early?"

"Let's go see a movie!" he chanted, his adult mind crying out in protest.

"We don't have that much spare time."

"Eh…What about shopping? Aren't girls supposed to love shopping?"

"I do need something nice to wear to Sonoko's party next week…" _Bingo. Even though she has tons of nice clothes, she can't pass up something new._ "Alright then!" She turned on her heels and headed to the next door over. Shinichi would have paled at the thought, but as Conan he put on his best face. Of course, all he had to do was wait for Ran to disappear into the changing room…

As soon as she was out of his sight, he made a dash for the door. He knew she'd set up another appointment, but in the future he would be prepared. _I wonder why I didn't see it coming…_

"No you don't!" he heard as he found himself scooped up once again. "I figured you'd try something like this. Come on." This time, his little face did get four shades whiter as she carried him straight into the dressing room. The door latched behind them and he buried his face in his hands. "You're such a gentleman, Conan-kun."

"Not really," he whispered, the tips of his ears turning red for her to see.

…X…

"C'mon, we're gonna be late!" she cried, prying him away from the mannequin he was fussing with in another attempt to slow her down. "Really. You turn red at the thought of seeing me change but have no problems messing with a mannequin like…_this one._" It had the perfect Barbie features, large chest and tiny waist. He hadn't cared about what it was shaped like, he just needed to stall. "You'd better be careful so that you don't turn into a little pervert."

"I'm not a pervert! I thought that dress might look nice on you!" She paused, glancing over the glittering little red number. "You look nice in red."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh! Shinichi told me red is your best color!" A little smile played onto her face.

"Did he now? Well, I think I'll just have to get a blue dress then."

"Eh?"

"We have to keep him guessing, don't we?" _I'll never understand women._ "But there'll be time for that later. C'mon you." She tightened her death-grip on his wrist and pulled him back to the eye doctor's office.

"Ran-neechan, please…I'm scared of the eye doctor! The drops hurt and they're always so mean…"

"Mean? Eye doctors are some of the nicest doctors out there. They don't have to pull your teeth or give you shots. All they do is make sure you can see."

"They hate kids."

"Oh really, Conan…" She glanced down and saw true fear in his eyes. There was no way he was scared of something so silly, especially after facing down bombs like they were no big deal.

"It's true! And…you know, eh…" _Think, idiot! There's gotta be some rumor about eye doctors. There's bad rumors for everything else out there…_ "I heard that there was one right here in town that was using something bad in kids' eyes because he hated kids so much…and kids' eyes got really bad after that…"

"Their eyes probably got bad because of all the TV they were watching. Don't believe everything you hear…Listen, if you're good we can go out and get ice cream later, k?" _You really think you can buy me with ice cream?_

"Ran-neechan, please, don't make me go in there! They eat people's eyes!" He tugged back as hard as he could, attempting to slip his hand through her grip. It was no good.

"Conan, relax. Look, I'll stay right by your side the whole time, alright? I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you." That look in her eyes nearly broke his little heart. He hated lying to this girl. His eyes trailed down to his watch…his watch…He felt like a criminal, but it had to be done.

"Ok." He completely relaxed against her grip, and, just like that, her grip relaxed too. She let his hand drop down and he quickly wrapped his arms around her. "Ran-neechan?"

"Yes Conan-kun?"

"I'm sorry." He clipped his watch off and aimed it at her neck, pretending to be nuzzling against her for comfort reasons so she wouldn't let him go. He couldn't see the doctor. That would put his cover at risk…and Ran would find out about Agasa's gizmos. No, this had to be stopped at all costs.

His eyes clenched as he placed his finger on the trigger.

Ran scream and leapt back, holding him tightly in her arms. His watch misfired, right into his own forehead. "That's unexpected…"he heard his voice drawl quietly. He felt his head hit Ran's shoulder rather roughly, and that's where it ended.

…X…X…

"….nan…Hey Conan…Wake up Conan." He let out a slight moan as he found his eyelids were unusually heavy. _Right…Is this how everyone else feels when I drug them? _"C'mon Conan, you're alright. You didn't get hurt that badly…"

"Hurt?" his eyes flew open and he looked around a little wildly. "What happened?"

"Shh, shh, calm down." She grabbed onto his shoulders as he tried to get to his feet. He was laying on the concrete sidewalk. Her jacket had been used as a pillow. Police officers were swarming the area.

"Ran-neechan? What happened?" Conan's hand reached up and felt along his hairline for the dart. There was the little spot where it had pricked him, but the dart itself was gone.

"Someone drove into the building…Apparently…someone put bleach in their eye-drops. We're lucky…the car…it almost…" He reached up and put his hand over hers. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm alight. Promise."

"That's good." She played with his hair a little bit. "I guess something must have hit you, though there's no scrapes or bruises…"

"Remember what Heiji-neechan said? I have a hard head!" _Bumping heads with him does pay off… _He froze as her hand ran through his hair, gently looking for any sore spots. "I promise Ran-neechan! I'm fine."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes!" He couldn't help but let a little annoyance seep into his tone. That actually worked in his favor. Ran laughed a little bit, finally sitting back and letting him stand up. Conan glanced over at the office. Inspector Megure was talking to everyone that had been in front of the building. A few people were arriving on the scene – ones that had had to get out of the building through the back from the looks of them.

Shinichi was instantly in detective mode. Conan was keeping an eye on the doctor; admittedly hoping that this would keep him tied up long enough for Ran to forget about the whole glasses check-up thing.

"Inspector!" Ran called out when he had a moment. "Conan woke up, though I don't think he can tell you anything I didn't tell you…"

"Probably less," Conan offered glumly. _That's my own fault._

"That's ok," the inspector said, patting Conan's head. "All the witnesses can vouch for the two of you, and he was out like a light for this whole thing. Since I know how to get a hold of you if I need you, the two of you can head on home so he…"

"I'm _fine_. Why won't anyone listen to me?" He put on the cutest pout Ran had ever seen.

"Conan…" Ran whispered. "Well, actually…" She glanced up at the doctor, then back at Conan's enormous blue eyes. "Staying here might be good for him. He loves playing detective after all, and he does find those clues…" Her ulterior motive was radiating beyond her words. She wanted him to accept that eye doctors weren't boogie monsters.

"Well, if you want to stay, I won't stop you," Megure shrugged, heading back to work.

"You have to promise to stay out of their way," she scolded, but he was already gone. "Conan?" He hopped into the car through the devastated passenger doorway, since the door had fallen off. The body had already been moved. He cursed at being so far behind. "Conan! Didn't I just say…"

"How long was I out?"

"What?"

"How long was I out?"

"Almost…yeah, about an hour."

"An hour!" He sighed. Just his luck. Well, the evidence was still here, even if the body wasn't. Time to get cracking.

…X…X…

Sunset. Shinichi had never seen a more wonderful sight. He leaned against the cracked brick façade as the orange glow bounced of the tiny red dot near his hairline. "Wow…I can't believe…it was actually…" Ran stammered, sitting on the sidewalk beside him. "You knew, didn't you?"

"Knew what?" he glanced at her curiously.

"That the eye doctor was a bad guy."

"I told you! Eye doctors are mean people that eat people's eyes!" He crossed his arm and felt his teenage dignity die a very slow and painful death. No, it was a crime. A murder. Ran blinked at him, letting out a sigh. _As long as I play the scarred kid maybe she won't force me to go to one…_

"Why don't we go get that ice cream now?"

"Ok!" He waved his arms in the air. _Ahh, the perks of being a cute kid._


End file.
